Page 54 of All I Want for Christmas

‘And that’s it.’

‘That’sit? He hasn’t called? Begged your forgiveness?’

‘Of course not. He just WhatsApped this afternoon asking if I needed another box to be sent over to his house for working late tonight.’

‘No!...That’s cold.’

‘Even colder – when I said no, I wouldn’t need it, he told me that he wouldn’t be there anyway and – get this – not to cut my nose off to spite my face!’

‘He did not!’ Freja gasped. ‘Oh my God, I hate him so much!’

Darcy nodded furiously. ‘I know! The arrogance is astounding!’

‘So then what did you say to that?’

‘I just aired him,’ she shrugged. ‘ObviouslyI’m not going over to his house again, whether he’s there or not.’

Freja took a sip of wine, her legs swinging freely. ‘...But don’t you need that extra time?’

‘Viggo’s going to get it sorted for me. We had a chat today, and I made my case for having stuff released here. He gets it. Hopefully he’ll have some good news for me in the morning and in the meantime, I can have tonight off at least.’

‘Fingers crossed, then.’

‘Yeah.’

Freja watched as Darcy turned over the chicken breast and stirred the sauce. ‘...So was it a good kiss?’

Darcy spun on her heel and pinned Freja with a look. ‘Why would you ask me that?’

‘Why wouldn’t I? We always do a post-mortem.’

‘Yes. But in this instance there’s no point in thinking about it, much less talking about it.’

‘Okay, just give me a show of fingers, then. Rate him on a scale of one to ten.’

Darcy shot her a look but Freja batted it right back to her. Slowly, Darcy raised both hands – and a foot.

‘Oh shit – it was that good?’

‘Well, it would be, wouldn’t it? He’s well practised. This is what he does.’ She shook the pan violently. ‘You having some?’

Freja gave a nervous smile. ‘Only if you’re sure there’s enough. I don’t want to addhangerto the mix.’

Darcy took out two bowls and divided the meal between them. She was slightly short of ‘enough’ but she had little appetite anyway and she gave Freja the larger serving.

Her flatmate noticed. ‘You have the bigger one.’

‘I’m not that hungry. Besides, you obviously need to keep your strength up.’ She winked.

They took the bowls and wine over to the sofas and sat cross-legged in their usual positions, opposite one another. Darcy ate without appetite, barely registering the flavours. ‘So what’s Tristan up to tonight?’ she asked dully.

‘He’s on a trip to Antwerp. Back tomorrow, but seeing as a firebreak is being enforced tonight anyway, I’m going to make myself gotwonights without him. Just to prove I can.’

‘Wow, a whole two nights. You’re hardcore,’ Darcy quipped. ‘He’s not driving you nuts yet, then?’

‘No, but give it time,’ Freja said, jabbing the air with her fork. ‘I’m optimistic that in another few weeks...’

‘You said that a few weeks ago!’

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